French translation and validation of the Exercise-Induced Leg Pain Questionnaire

Introduction: The « Exercise-Induced Leg Pain » (EILP) questionnaire has been developed to evaluate the severity of symptoms and sports ability in individuals with exercise-induced leg pain. Purpose: We aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt this questionnaire into French and to study the reliability and validity of the French-translated version (EILP-F).
Methods: Translation and cross-culturally adaptation of the original EILP (EILP-G) was performed according to established guidelines. The translation part was articulated in six stages as recommended by Beaton et al. To validate the EILP-F questionnaire, 84 subjects were recruited (28 pathological patients with a confirmed diagnosis of chronic leg pain, 28 asymptomatic sport students, 28 athletes healthy control). Discriminative power of the questionnaire was tested as well as reliability (internal consistency, test–retest reliability after a 7-10-day interval), construct validity and floor/ceiling effects.
Results: the EILP-F version of the questionnaire has been generated without any major difficulties. The ability of the questionnaire to discriminate the three groups of subjects has been showed with a total score of 61.0 ± 18.5 for the pathologic group; 93.9 ± 7.57 for the asymptomatic group and 94.1 ± 9.79 for the control group (p-value adjusted on age = 0.008). A high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.93) and an excellent test-retest radiality (ICC of 0.98 (95% CI 0.97-0.99, p<0.001)) indicated that the EILP-F is reliable. The EILP-F also demonstrated a good construct validity against different subscales of the Short Form-36 questionnaire, a generic quality of life questionnaire, with more than 87 % of prespecified hypotheses confirmed. Finally, no floor or ceiling effects were observed.
Conclusion: The EILP-F questionnaire is consistent, valid and reliable for evaluating the French-speaking patients with chronic exercise-induced leg pain.